If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry

Like a tequila hangover, the pain of that particular Game 7 loss will be felt beyond the morning after.

It takes me an hour to get home after home games, and I always listen to music on the i-Pod during the ride. After Caps wins, I listen to the “Caps win” mix. After losses, I pick out something that feels appropriate.

After a bit of parking garage surreality in which seven or eight of us spent an hour trying to help a friend extract his keys from his locked car, I drove home in silence with the windows down.

As I was driving into the District for the break-up day stuff yesterday, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to hear. I shuffled the deck and let the musical cards fall where they would. Ironically enough, out of 3,163 songs presently on the Pod, this is what came up at the top of the deck:

“Demon of White Sadness”

I don’t know what I feel inside
The Demon sighs in the dashboard lights
He lights a cigarette with his fingernail
As he’s circling our block

Now I don’t quite understand about love
The Demon snacks on a pickled dove
He parks his Nova about behind your truck
And comes in without a knock

Chorus:

Bleeding out of small cuts in my skin
White sadness, the Demon, the demon
Hurt to hurt from hurt comes the new pain
White sadness, the Demon, my demon

Now I don’t feel like I wanna feel
The Demon waits as we finish our meal
He glares at photos of us on the fridge
And then he glares at us for real

I often dream about going back
The Demon’s eyes go from clear to skunk black
He gropes your breasts with necessary attack
As you suck his lips of fire

Chorus 2x

Fallin’ out of favor was my favorite thing
‘Til I took the pill that made you real

That song is one of many brilliant songs by a soulful, band called Marah. They’re from Philly, they’re one of that city’s greatest musical exports, IMO. “Demon of White Sadness” is from an album called “If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry.”

As Homer Simpson likes to say, “Isn’t irony ironic?”

The Caps could have been swept in four straight and this would have been a pretty good year, IMO. They’ve got their heads held high as as well they should have.

Jason: In between the bickering, there have been plenty of thoughtful messages concerning the Caps future. I have posted a number of things on what I believe they can do. It will be a very interesting offseason. Bradley, Huet, Federov and Cooke are UFAs. A number of players, incl Green and Laich, are RFAs, which in today’s world of the NHL is way more free-wheeling than it was a few years ago. We have the Awards Ceremony in late June in which the Caps will take home plenty of hardware. Then you have the draft, where Caps should pick like 17th or so and then have three second rounders. Finally, we have the free agency period the first of July. With 18 skaters and 2 goalies, the Caps could end up with 5-7 new faces on the roster next October. Alzner is maybe the only player ready to step up to the NHL, but we still need to see him I think get signed. (They also I think need to sign the RW Francois Can’t-Recall-Last-Name or he goes back in the draft. Or did he sign? I know he signed an amateur contract to play at Hershey but that doesn’t count?) Step 1 was getting Boudreau locked up, and that is done. Step 2 is probably the goaltending. Article in the Post says Olie was a no-show at the mandatory, end-of-season meeting, so there are some fences to mend there. He was a good soldier through the whole thing on the outside but you have to figure deep inside he was very hurt.

I’ll bet with Colorado/Detroit they start by playing up the past fueds and I would guess tonight at least once they replay the Lemieux hit on Draper and the Roy-Vernon fight. As I remember, Lemieux didn’t back down when McCarty wanted to fight.

huet needs to come back and then kolzig’s choice is up to him. apparently he took the nametag as memento and realized he has many decisions to make and “just needs some time” i hope to see him comeback because he is the best possible backup situation. huet has longevity issues and this way we have someone who can start 30+ games and fill in for an injury. i hope this works so we can shop johnson for a pick or prospect.

i think feds wants to come back but im not sure about huet (his wife doesnt want to move). i dont expect many of our RFA’s or UFA’s to go very far past next weeks team meetings. we have one of the tightest group of guys in the NHL. Green and Laich will be locked up quick…green is already thinking about next year as if its not even an issue. Clark and Pothier may be done, i can deal, but would rather not.

alzner is a potential calder candidate, but i think we need a bruiser on the blueline. i dont know how we get him because the UFA crop is not great, we have a high pick, maybe a trade but i dont want to give up anyone from our core…i think tom you mentioned shopping semin? nooooo. i think that laich-backy-semin line may be potential gold. i also think lepisto deserves a chance and that emi deserves more time. jurcina i could see getting edged out of that crop of d-men. he cost us a few goals in the playoffs from risky passing. exploiting him became a strategy of phily.

I will be sad to see Olie go, but understand that he needs to make a decsion that is best for him and where he believes he will get the most playing time. Just unfortunate that Huet got so hot and the Capitals needed to ride the hot goaltender to make it into the playoffs. With this said, I would of liked to see him play a little in the last playoff series but understand why he didn’t.

As for Jurcina, I believe that what was talked about him in this post is true and was also his reputation in Boston (correct team?) before the Caps got him. I was impressed on how Emminger played for being a healthy scratch for most of the season. I would be upset or surprised if Emminger takes Jurcina’s slot. Schultz is in the same mold as Jurcina but younger. Schultz needs to be more agressive and he looked a little shell shocked when he played in the playoff series. Waiting to see what moves the Caps make during this long offseason.

Funky: I will never forget my initial impression of Semin which is he was a pain in the rear to get signed and then to get re-signed. These types of players tend to be pains forever. You are a pain as a player because you are a pain as a person. I have been 24 years with the world’s largest aerospace company partly because I fit in and do it their way and don’t make waves. Semin has always in his young life made waves. I am hoping Ovie and Federov make him see the light. Those stupid penalties really need to stop.

Question: How can you determine when a player has an Alexander Semin hat trick?

Answer: When he has a goal, a giveaway and a stick foul.

He is no different in some respects to the baseball shortstop who hits a homer (it’s a plus for a SS to have power) and then makes an error that leads to a run. It’s way, way cheaper and more efficient to sign the banjo-hitting SS who doesn’t hit the homer but also doesn’t make the error. In this instance, I see no sense to giving Semin $4.2M next year if he gives away as many goals as he scores.

Tonight in Orlando it’s like 75 with all the french doors open against the breeze and the jasmine aroma infusing the house and the St. Francis chardonnay having been drained and the Robert Mondavi Vinetta now open and the Wings leading Colorado in Round 2. Back in Maryland it would be the first week of June before it would feel like this. Florida though has the tropical thing but lacks the intense humidity-driven, earth-changing summer experience you get in the mid-Atlantic.

My family has been in Baltimore since like 1647 but it wasn’t hard at all to move except for missing the steamed crabs and going to the Cap Centre.

Here’s an offer for all you Caps fans: Anyone from this BB who wants to come down and see the Caps vs Lightning (90 mins away) or Caps vs Panthers (3.5 hrs away) let me know and I will put you up for a night. This isn’t the Paris Hilton. It’s a 2400 sq ft house but has several empty rooms with kids moved out. There are five cats who go in and out of the house so if you are allergic, that is a consideration. I would especially like to do a road trip next year where the Caps play Tampa and Miami on consecutive nights. It is a very easy drive between Orlando, Tampa and Sunrise (north Miami). Best thing you can do is come down for a week in the winter and get several Caps games plus take in some moderate weather and stay somewhere along the coast. You can fly into Orlando and stay here as bookends between the games. Go to Disney if that’s what you like. Maybe Mike V. can come down and do a story on Caps fans on the road. I have been to the Caps-Lightning about a dozen times but never went to Sunrise so that is something on my bucket list and especially since they never sell out. I know living in Bel Air, MD I went to Caps at Devils and Caps at Islanders (that was a haul with Ken Klee scoring as RW Nov 2, 1995). Being an enemy fan is much better if you have support, although going to the Meadowlands I always received respect. I can never get upset when Jersey wins because their fans were always cool.

Anyway, let me know, my house is available for Caps fans wanting to go to Caps games. I wish I were closer to real action but it is what it is.

Signed,
Tom in Baltimore who became Tom in Detroit back to Tom in Baltimore then to Tom in Long Island then Tom in Baltimore again and finally Tom in Orlando.

***Signed,
Tom in Baltimore who became Tom in Detroit back to Tom in Baltimore then to Tom in Long Island then Tom in Baltimore again and finally Tom in Orlando.***

That’s pretty funny. Similar to my story, moving all over the gr8 us of a. But always follow the caps and now the Gr8 8. Nice of you to offer your house. Hard for me to imagine an NBA fan doing the same. Hockey fans ARE the best!

Jason- I agree Backstrom, Semin and Laich are GOLDEN. I do question the efforts of Koslov, was he hurt or is he just too slow for that line? He seemed to be dragging them back a stride, didn’t he? Could be just my view! The future sure looks bright though!!

Invitation- Anyone interested in a fishing trip to Northern Manitoba, during July or August? Look up Lynn Lake on a map or the Net. Let me know and I’ll host a dream fishing trip! One visit and you’ll be hooked!